The Coming of Age Symposium

Professor Pragya Agarwal is a visiting professor of social inequities and injustice at Loughborough University, and a Fellow and visiting scholar at University of Cambridge. Her research lies at the intersection of geography, sociology and technology to investigate historic legacies and modern manifestations of inequalities. She is the author of five non-fiction books, which have been translated into multiple languages. Pragya also writes regularly for publications such as The Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, Scientific American, New Scientist, Literary Hub, New Statesman and Prospect Magazine.

Shamita is a curator at Wellcome Collection. In addition to ‘The Coming of Age’, she has curated exhibitions such as ‘Jason and the Adventure of 254’ (2024), ‘Genetic Automata’ (2023), ‘Play Well’ (2019) and ‘Can Graphic Design Save Your Life?’ (2017). Before Wellcome Collection, Shamita worked as a curator at the Whitechapel Gallery and assistant curator at Tate Modern.

The Centre for Ageing Better is an independent centre of excellence on ageing and demographic change. They work with national and local government, industries, businesses and community organisations to improve how people experience ageing. Their work focuses on creating better workplaces, homes and communities, while tackling ageism and addressing inequality in later life.

With a background in neuropharmacology and conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Martina Zimmermann now specialises in health humanities. She is Reader in Health Humanities and Health Sciences in the Department of English, and Co-Director of the Centre for the Humanities and Health, at King’s College London. She runs a research programme on ageing, funded by a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship. She was the curator of the 'Lifelines: Rethinking Ageing across Generations' exhibition, which ran early last Summer at Science Gallery.

Karen Arthur is a grandmother and an award-winning author, broadcaster, artist, menopause diversity campaigner, and founder of Wear Your Happy® – a movement that celebrates conscious clothing choices for better mental wellbeing. Her debut children's book ‘Grandmas Locs’ (2025) was winner of the Readers Choice Diversity Awards 2025. She is the founder and host of the ground-breaking podcast ‘Menopause Whilst Black’, which champions Black British menopausal stories. Karen hosts ‘Can We Talk’ on Gold Dust Radio, which centres the varied careers of creative trailblazers. Her artwork has been featured on Sky Arts, the Migration Museum, and Hastings Museum, where her latest textiles piece is being shown.

Kit Green is an Olivier award-winning artist whose work covers theatre, music, academia, cabaret, comedy and broadcast. She is Fellow at Oxford University’s Centre for Ethics in AI. She is renowned for her comedy creations and for her extensive work on BBC Radio 4. She was one of the founders of the Duckie Collective, and is the creator of multiple influential ‘experiential entertainments’ including ‘Prurience’, which was the first ever theatrical commission by the Guggenheim Gallery in New York City, and ‘The Home’, which explores residential care homes for the elderly. Kit is the creator of Digital Home, in collaboration with the Tokyo Cultural Olympiad, and Legacy 6, a place for creative digital memorialisation.

Arti Prashar OBE is a theatre-maker, whose inclusive creative practice champions diverse voices, creating immersive sensory spaces for people to make meaningful connections. A collaborative theatre maker with values based on fundamental human rights, Arti was Spare Tyre’s Artistic Director and CEO for 19 years. Her work includes ‘LoveUnspoken’, a piece of live art performance targeting South Asian communities and carers and ‘The Garden’, an internationally acclaimed immersive and multisensory show designed for people living with dementia. In 2022 she was awared OBE for her pioneering work with people living with dementia.

Jo Paul is a London-based artist, designer and creative coach working across installation, textiles and participatory arts. She holds an MA in Scenography from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Jo facilitates workshops and collaborative projects in galleries, theatres, hospitals and public spaces. She has worked with organisations including Graeae, Candoco Dance Company, Emergency Exit Arts, Access All Areas, Spare Tyre, Battersea Arts Centre and A New Direction. Her work has been part of exhibitions, residencies and public projects in the UK and internationally. As a disabled artist, Jo’s inclusive perspective is also informed by lived experiences of being ‘othered’ and questions of belonging.

Uncertain Futures (2019-2025) is an award-winning art and research collaboration addressing critical inequalities in work and worklessness experienced by women over 50 in Manchester. Led by Dr Sarah Campbell (Manchester Metropolitan University), Dr Elaine Dewhurst (University of Manchester), Ruth Edson (Manchester Art Gallery), and artist Suzanne Lacy, the project engaged 100 women from diverse backgrounds in Manchester.

Dr Sarah Campbell is a Senior Lecturer in Health and Social Care at Manchester Metropolitan University, researching ageing, dementia, and care through participatory and creative methodologies. She is co-research lead on the award-winning Uncertain Futures project with renowned artist Suzanne Lacy and Manchester Art Gallery, exploring work inequalities facing women over 50 in Manchester. Sarah’s scholarship is shaped by a longstanding commitment to research that is done with, rather than about, the people it concerns. She is a member of the PAARnet (Participatory Approaches with Older Adults) COST Action management committee and holds a Co-Investigator role on an NIHR-funded study examining barriers to research participation among underserved communities.

Ruth is the Senior Learning Manager: Adults and Communities for Manchester Art Gallery and Platt Hall, both part of Manchester City Galleries. Ruth has extensive experience of co-producing exhibitions and programmes in partnership with communities, artists, charities, and academics within galleries and museums, local authorities, and in a freelance capacity. Over the past five years, she has led and curated Uncertain Futures; a collaborative art and research project addressing intersectional inequalities facing women over 50 in relation to work and ageing.

Tom Shakespeare is a public intellectual and Professor of Disability Research at The London School of Hygiene and Medicine (LSHTM). He is interested in disability policy, disability rights and disability inclusion. He has contributed to Parliamentary Committees, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Department for Transport (DfT), HM Treasury and other public bodies. He is also a BBC Radio broadcaster and novelist. 

Dr Jamilla Hussain is a consultant in palliative medicine and researcher working in Bradford. Her work centres on how inequality shapes experiences of ageing, illness, death and grief, particularly for communities who face the greatest barriers to care and support. Alongside caring for patients and families, Jamilla leads research on health inequalities, palliative care and later-life wellbeing, including work exploring the experiences of ethnically diverse communities and people living with frailty.

Joelle is a Visitor Experience & Engagement Facilitator at Wellcome Collection, where she researches objects and actively explores creative approaches to making the museum and collection more relevant to contemporary audiences. Valuing the lived experiences of others, she is passionate about fostering empathy, dialogue, and co-learning by adopting equitable representation. She is particularly interested in the intersection of theatre and museum.

Anja Richardson is an artist and collaborator, and a Visitor Engagement Facilitator at Wellcome Collection. Originally trained as an engineer before moving into art and research at the Royal College of Art, her interdisciplinary practice stages encounters between bodies, systems and materials through sculpture, sound, technology. She often collaborates with scientists, including work on stroke rehabilitation with Imperial College London.

Ranjini is a Visitor Experience and Engagement Facilitator at Wellcome Collection. She brings together her practices as a dance artist and academic researcher, using movement to develop creative ways of experiencing the museum, and research to uncover the human stories held within objects, artworks, artefacts and the larger collection. Her work aims to foster dialogue and debate, as well as encourage visitors to make the museum their own. 

Jake is a Visitor Experience and Engagement Facilitator at Wellcome Collection. Here they encourage people to explore different narratives and ways of experiencing a museum space through creative, participatory, and questioning practices.

Solange is a Visitor Experience & Engagement Facilitator, creating exciting, engaging and thought-provoking experiences for visitors to the Wellcome Collection. Solange has a professional background in the higher education sector and has supported students at all stages of their learning. Solange has a particular interest in archaeology and ancient material culture.

Russell Aldersson works as both a BSL–English interpreter and a teacher. His interpreting practice is primarily community-based. He also supports registered trainee sign language interpreters as a senior practitioner and practice assessor. As a qualified teacher, Russell delivers English language courses for deaf adults at the City Literary Institute and provides academic and language support to deaf students in higher education. NRCPD registration number 100009X.

Grace Buckle is a BSL interpreter and CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult(s)) who started her career in 2013. Since then, she has worked in education, theatre, activism, medical and community settings. She currently works at Springfields Hospital and enjoys boxing in her spare time. NRCPD registration number 1015317.

Sula Gleeson is a registered and qualified BSL/English interpreter with over 20 years of experience in the field, after working as a teacher for several years. She undertakes interpreting work in a range of domains, but favours the arts, culture, sport and education whenever possible. NRCPD registration number 1006683.

Pettra St Hilaire is a qualified BSL interpreter with experience across community, creative, and performance interpreting. They specialise in theatre, poetry, queer performance, and socially conscious spaces, with a strong commitment to accessibility, inclusion, and culturally informed practice. NRCPD registration number 102119X.

NRCPD registration number 1003110.

Michelle has been a qualified British Sign Language Interpreter for over 20 years and has been working with the Wellcome Collection for the last 10 years. She loves being a small part of the team who ensure that the Deaf Community have full access to what, in her view, is one of the best places in London. NRCPD registration number 1009790.